Results of an Inventory of the Vascular Plants of Yukon Charley Rivers National Park and Preserve

Larsen, Amy; Rector, Claudia

During the summer of 2002, we conducted a vascular plant inventory of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska, as part of the Biological Inventories for the Natural Resource Challenge. The principal goals of the survey were to produce a voucher-based list of vascular plant species that documents 90% of the species expected to exist within the boundaries of the Preserve and to synthesize all known floristic information on the Preserve. To accomplish these goals the four following objectives were met: • assemble all existing floristic data into a database; • assess the strengths and weaknesses of this existing data set and identify geographic and taxonomic gaps in the knowledge of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve’s flora; • target vascular plant inventory fieldwork toeffectively fill data gaps and assemble a complete, voucher-based vascular plant list for Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve; • synthesize the results of both historic and new floristic investigations from original field work into a report describing the state of our knowledge concerning the vascular plant floristics of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. We spent approximately 820 hours surveying 135 sites across the landscape of Yukon Charley Rivers National Preserve. We collected and documented over 2500 voucher specimens of which 2137 were prepared as permanent voucher specimens, now housed at the University of Alaska Herbarium. From the 2002 collection we documented the occurrence of 551 species and 27 subspecies including 227 newly documented taxa (including species and subspecies). This collection brings the total number of species known for the Preserve to 631; including the 43 subspecies known, there are 674 total taxa. We documented 39 range extensions. The Preserve has long been known as home to a variety of rare and endemic plant species. In 2002, we collected 19 new plant species that are recognized by the Alaska Natural Heritage Program as rare in Alaska, bringing the total number of rare species known for the Preserve to 49. Sixty percent of the 39 range extensions we documented were wetland plants. And 14 of the 19 rare plant species found in the 2002 inventory are wetland plant species. Our greatest contribution to the understanding of the Alaskan flora is our contribution to our knowledge of wetland plant species. The baseline information provided by this survey of vascular plant species distribution and composition forms a strong foundation upon which the Central Alaska Network of Parks can build a sustainable long term monitoring program. And it outlines some basic gaps in our understanding of the flora of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve

Results of an Inventory of the Vascular Plants of Yukon Charley Rivers National Park and Preserve

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